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Error - The command Select is not currently available in Photoshop

New Here ,
Jan 19, 2016 Jan 19, 2016

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I've installed a Greater Than Gatsby Action but cant run it because I get 'The command SELECT is not currently available. I tried running a default Action and get 'The command FEATHER is not currently available.'

I went back to PREFERENCES to check everything is in order. I cant find anything amiss. Can someone help please?

Capture.PNG

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Actions and scripting , macOS , Windows

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

New Here , Jan 29, 2016 Jan 29, 2016

I had this exact same issue with an action I was using.  Look down the action list at the first "Select" command.  Make sure that your layer is named the same as what is in that command.  After that it should work.

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Explorer ,
Feb 09, 2017 Feb 09, 2017

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Is there still no good answers here? I've tried everything everyone has mentioned. Even my default actions are riddled with errors.

----------
Become so undeniably good that you give your imposter syndrome an inferiority complex.

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Participant ,
Feb 10, 2017 Feb 10, 2017

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There are indeed good answers here: please read what JJMack wrote in his posts. Running the action step by step may help you identify the cause of an issue.

In regards to this particular case:

The issue doesn't have to to with a selection of pixels. It has to do with layer names. Let me explain:

I noticed (in the screenshot) that the failed step tried to select the "Background" layer. You got the error because this layer was not available in your Photoshop document. Why? Two reasons:

1. You have a non-English Photoshop version, so the default layer is named differently (e.g. "Calque" in the French version, "Ebene" in German, etc).

2. Your document doesn't contain a Background layer.

Solution for #1: the action is not well crafted, as JJMack suggested. You don't have to run this action anyway. Just duplicate image and close the original file. Action developers need to understand that there are thousands of PS users using non-English PS locales.

Solution for #2: Duplicate the image and flatten it; close the original file.

Kind regards

Panos Efstathiadis

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 03, 2018 Mar 03, 2018

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Thank you! my issue was that I sent the image from the mobile app. It needed “flattening” to create a “background layer” before I could properly use the actions!

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New Here ,
Jun 08, 2023 Jun 08, 2023

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You may never read this hit you just saved my life. I have searched through countless post and videos with ZERO correct answers to this issue. I finally read your post and it solves a problem I have spent countless hours trying to solve. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

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New Here ,
Mar 04, 2017 Mar 04, 2017

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Yup, I don't get it--sometimes they work great and other times, they're all messed up

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 12, 2017 Aug 12, 2017

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Be sure you have the brushes loaded for that action and the layer is properly named, cased sensitive

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New Here ,
Jun 14, 2022 Jun 14, 2022

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not really noone cam answer on reason wht we have the issues with actions 

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New Here ,
Apr 30, 2017 Apr 30, 2017

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I figured it out!! At least, I figured it out on my end.  I wasn't just getting the select command not being available...but make and all kinds of other commands.  My issue was that I was opening my files from ACR as a smart Object.  There was no background layer.  Since the actions start by "selecting the background" layer..it was getting confused.  As soon as I renamed my first layer "Background"...I've had no issues!

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Community Expert ,
Apr 30, 2017 Apr 30, 2017

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Yes action can have dependencies you required a Background layer.  You could change the action to select the bottom layer instead. The action may then run or may fail some other ways.  For a smart object layer's pixels can not be changes by Photoshop tools only smart filters and adjustments layer can change the layer composite view.   Actions can have many dependencies.

JJMack

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New Here ,
Feb 06, 2021 Feb 06, 2021

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3 years later but thank you I was also having this issue - and flattening my image before applying actions helped so much 

 

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New Here ,
Aug 08, 2017 Aug 08, 2017

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THAT TOTALLY WORKED FOR ME! THANK YOU!!!!!!

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New Here ,
Aug 11, 2017 Aug 11, 2017

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hola vivo en Mexico, y estube leyendo a todos y practicando cada tip.. y me seguia fallando la accion..pero buscandole por todos lados de mi parte lo solucione instalando el (ABR) que venia con el (ATN)  y despues abri la ventana de las Brushes y active todas las casillas y me funciono sin errores.. bueno espero a alguien le sirva.. y ceuquen que el archivo accion traiga los 2 files el ABR & ATN e instalarlos ambos...saludos my friends

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New Here ,
Aug 30, 2017 Aug 30, 2017

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I had the exact same problem.

I solved issue. Answer was not here in any post.

I made a copy of my images folder. Now

1) Create a new set by your name.

2) Create new action (Give a name what you want to do)

3) Open your picture and start your procedures.

4) at last (Instead of save as, you should use save command).

You still have the original folder. don't worry about your images.

5) Stop the action.

Go to file, Automate, batch now uncheck the box (Override action "Save As" Command)

Click ok

You are done here.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 01, 2017 Sep 01, 2017

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New Here ,
Sep 19, 2017 Sep 19, 2017

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hola alguien me puede ayudar con la accion de sandstorm para photoshop cc 2017 me da este error:

error of no more virtual tiles can bea allocated

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Community Expert ,
Sep 19, 2017 Sep 19, 2017

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Save the action  et up  load the *.atn file to a file sharing service and post a link to it here so we can look at your action.

JJMack

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New Here ,
Dec 14, 2017 Dec 14, 2017

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Hello I have a small issue, i am trying to run my action to select and move parts of the image, i open this png file in PS, then run the action and save. (want to batch eventually)

what is wrong here?

 

Image i want to edit - KOnnGc

Action - Set 2.zip

 

thanks in advance,
Arne

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Community Expert ,
Dec 14, 2017 Dec 14, 2017

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A small issue??? I would think you would have major issues reading your action.

Capture.jpg

You recorded that asction on some document that had some size and resolution.  I assume a png you opened. You had your Photoshop ruler units set to inches which is relative to DPI resolution..

You selected an rectangle area 4.563 inched down from the top and 14.219 inches in fron the left to 14.25 inches down from the top and 17.031 inches in from the left,  An area around 10" high and 3" wide the cut/move that area from the target layer. Then you set set a different rectangle area and cut/move that from the layer.   You then set an other selection and transform the curren layer selection. Your open png image layer that  you cut pixels from.  The layer selection is resize using bicubic interpolation.

If the action work close to way you want it to..  It can only be batched if all your png files have the same size and resolution and you want to cut the sane areas in all the pngs.  Otherwise the selections may not be  where you want and the size you want and the dicument canvas size may act as a clipping mask for the resize layer.  Imag size is hard to deal with in Actions.

Single steping through your action on your png works like this. All the set selection steps  seem to be off for this png file content.

Select move select move select transform

Capture.jpg

Crafting Actions Package UPDATED Aug 10, 2014 Added Conditional Action steps to Action Palette Tips.

Contains

Example

Download

JJMack

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New Here ,
Dec 19, 2017 Dec 19, 2017

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Hello JJMack,

thanks for your reply.

That is exactly what i am trying to do, the actions you had above, all my pngs are the same size and resolution, and i want to move that exact areas on all of the pngs, the image that i sent you was just a sample to help me get the movements correct, so it may look like i got the selections in the wrong place.

 

the issue is when i try to do a batch or even run the action on one png it will come up on the first image saying "select command not available" or something similar.

 

I have attached 2 of the pngs i want to apply the action to:

 

jj6h6A

 

wQbA5R

 

thanks very much in advance.

 

Arne Currie

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Community Expert ,
Dec 19, 2017 Dec 19, 2017

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Your action ACtions cutee set selection in you action were recorded on a different size document . You action's set selections steps will not work.    Nothing will be slected and the action will fail with errors,

JJMack

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New Here ,
Dec 19, 2017 Dec 19, 2017

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I found the Problem,

like you said PS was set to inches, which is the default, and the two images i had (although they were both 3300 x 2250 pixels) opened as different sizes in inches. I changed the units to pixels, re-recorded my action, and it worked perfectly.

thanks for your help,

i am a complete newbie to PS, only use it very occasionally, i mostly use Premiere Pro & LR.

Thanks,

Arne

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Engaged ,
Dec 20, 2017 Dec 20, 2017

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We all owe JJMack a huge thanks. He's consistently stepped in and helped folks out of trouble.

I'd like to address some of the issues that have been raised by the original question (and subsequent comments)

  1. Any actions you have purchased/collected which require a "Background" layer are poorly written. You should address your concerns to the original author. A well-written action can handle all kinds of documents and layouts.

  2. Writing actions that work reliably is no simple task - even if the desired task seems simple. Sometimes its a matter of using the best choices in the action. For example if you want to reliably resize any document to HD format (1920 x 1080) in an action the best choice I came up with was two operations. All operations should be done using Pixels, by the way.
    a. Image Size Width: 1920, Constrain Proportions,
    b. Canvas Size Height: 1080 pixels, Vertical center:
    But this method has two drawbacks: it will enlarge images that are smaller than 1920 pixels wide, and it will crop from the center any document that is more than 1080 pixels high AFTER resizing the width.

  3. Another example suppose you want the longest dimension to be 1920 pixels and keep the image proportions... what do you do? Well, the best answer is File -> Automate -> Fit Image, not "Image -> Image Size"


In short, though actions are easy to create, it doesn't mean they are easy to get right.

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New Here ,
Dec 17, 2017 Dec 17, 2017

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I was hoping to find the answer to my issue here as well. But it seems my issue is a little different.  The action runs fine until it gets to a select command, but for my issue, layer 10 is not available.  All the other layers are created as the should, but except this one.  Not sure if it is because layer 10 is a double-digit some I need to change something else, but since I never created anything with the word "layer" in it, I don't know what I would need to change.  I start off with the locked background layer and the brush layer and that's it, made sure that it's in RGB mode and 8 bits, then run the action.  After a few seconds it stops. 

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New Here ,
Jan 06, 2018 Jan 06, 2018

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Thanks. That fixed my issue

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New Here ,
Jan 10, 2018 Jan 10, 2018

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For some strange reason, it didn't like using an image that I had previously ran the action on. Luckily I had the original image. Or maybe saving it as a different file? I opened the original the saved a copy, ran the script, and it ran just fine. I don't know how or why but it worked.

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